I brought you some flowers

[Winwin2011]

If we go to visit a patient in hospital and talk to her/him as follows:-

1. I bring you some flowers.
2. I brought you some flowers.
3. I've brought you some flowers.

Which tense is natural?

Thanks.

 

[Barb_D]

#3 is the mostly likely. #2 is possible. #1 is not.

 

[emsr2d2]

Unless the patient can't see, I see no reason to point out that you have brought flowers. Presumably, the patient can see the flowers in your hand as you walk towards them. The patient might say to someone else later "Look, my husband/sister/aunt/friend brought me flowers earlier. Aren't they beautiful?"

 

[BobK]

:up: Language learners can make life difficult for themselves, trying to fit words to a situation where the context says it all. The only case I can think of that would call for 'I brought you some flowers...' would be if the sentence went on '...but I must have left them on the bus.' Here it would be more accurate to say 'I was bringing you some flowers, but <excuse>', but 'I brought' - even if it doesn't make sense - can be made sense of.

b
PS Another case I've thought of is when the visitor feels that the patient hasn't noticed the flowers, or maybe hasn't shown appropriate appreciation: 'See, I['ve] brought you some flowers.'